At Canadensis, we love Blue & Gold.  Those are our camp colors, and we proudly wear them as much as possible all summer!  I wanted to start blogging about some of the awesome blue and gold products I’ve been seeing, and if you spot anything Blue & Gold, please email me pictures to pam@canadensis.com!

These polka dot flowers were in the floral craft section of Michaels, I picked up one for me and one for Cara.  I think mine might end up getting attached to a hair clip so I can wear it at camp!

We love Soffe shorts during the summer, check out these great NEW shorts with the gold elastic band! soffe.com

Next time you are throwing a camp party, search for these blue and gold plastic cups.  I spotted these at the Christmas Tree Stores.

Send me pictures of the Blue & Gold items you’ve spotted!

Please join me in welcoming Samara to the Camp Canadensis family!  I got to spend some time with her family over winter break, right after she returned from a fun trip to Mexico!  Samara is a current 3rd grader, and will be a Junior Girl – she lives in Princeton, NJ, which is one of my favorite towns to visit if I get a free weekend!

Samara stays busy every day of the week, between ballet and hip hop class, Hebrew School and piano lessons – she can’t find time for all the other activities she enjoys, including soccer!  She gave me a tour of her house, and her room was covered with many art projects she has created.  She had mosaic art and hand loomed tapestries above her bed, a cute paper mache penguin she made in Kindergarten and a mask she had made in Mexico.  She loves crafting, and she is specifically excited about getting to tie-dye at camp! She’s also looking forward to the lake activities, waterskiing – and she’s considering auditioning for the show, or signing up for horseback riding lessons.

She’s a big sister to brother Griffin, who is currently in Kindergarten, and might join us for the Tour & More overnight weekend either this summer, or another summer soon.  Griffin also has a super cool room with a rope ladder that goes up to the ceiling, and it’s good practice for our camp ropes course!  Griffin & mom whipped up one of Samara’s “oreo ball” recipie while we chatted – and then we got to enjoy them while we played games.  Samara taught me Tenzi and I showed her how to play jacks with the new set she had gotten – which came in a Canadensis carrying case!  Everyone should know how to play jacks at camp, and if you don’t know yet…we’ll teach you!  I hope she’ll find time to practice, so we can play this summer!

Links:  Oreo Ball Recipe – Tenzi –  How to play Jacks

Although the break was very relaxing, I wanted to tell you about a few of the adventures I got into…

Now that Rachel Waxman (from Evening Activities) lives in Philadelphia, I get to see her monthly for catch up dinners – and since BeckyJ (2012 Upper Inter Group Leader) was home from college during winter break, I got to see both of them over break!  We had a camp “comfort food” style dinner of mac & cheese, grilled cheese and tomato soup…and then we wandered around town until we found an open cupcake store!

I also had lunch with Julia Eckenrode, who will be returning this year as our Glass Fusion director – it was great to start talking about her project ideas for this summer.  I’ll be getting to see Julia a few times in January because Cara Corradetti and I have signed up to take her glass blowing class…we are SO excited, and we’ll definitely be sharing pictures of our projects on the blog!

Also during the break, Dave and I took a trip to Texas – we spent 3 days in Houston with my sister, and then spent 2 days in Austin exploring town.  It was a great trip, the temperatures were mild and we ate tacos for breakfast, lunch, dinner…and even dessert!  Would you eat a s’mores taco at camp this summer??

Annie came with us too, and we found a restaurant called “Annie’s” – how could I resist the photo-op?

We also found another restaurant called “Texadelphia” which was perfect since my sister lives in Texas, and I live in Philadelphia…we didn’t try the cheesesteak taco though.

Of course, no vacation or break would be complete without crafting!  At the top you can see a box a made for my best friends twins, and a card I made for my friend who just welcomed baby Nora.  I didn’t want to share my Chanukah cards on the blog until I got to give out all my gifts, but check out the designs I crafted using my silhouette – it was fun playing around with the colors.

I also got to make thank you cards for all the great gifts we received – I even tried making the envelopes too (they need some tweaking…) We can’t wait to show you how to make your own stationery at the new elective this summer!!

It was well past time for me to refresh my Camp Canadensis car bumper magnet!  Take a look at the 2-year old one on the left, and the new one on the right.  They use to be the same color!  Now that my magnet is looking spiffy and new, I feel like my camp spirit is more alive!!

If you need a magnet refresher for any reason, please be in touch with me (pam@canadensis.com) and tell me your address and I’ll get one in the mail for you!

Good reasons to refresh your magnet:

1.  You are a CIT who is learning to drive and wants a magnet of your very own!

2.  It got washed away at the car wash…

3.  It’s faded…

4.  You never got one in the first place!

Also, check out these amazing Canadensis holiday cookies!  It was a delicious “refresh”ment that we got to enjoy at the office today, thanks to our Lower Junior Group Leader, Melissa Torban.  Melissa is going to be spending her 3rd summer at camp, and she is incredibly talented at working with kids both as a teacher during the year, and in her role at camp.  Clearly, she’s also incredibly talented at baking and decorating cookies…she made around 150 unique designs.  And…they are delicious too.  Thanks Melissa!

I have a new favorite Philadelphian, and her name is Milly Belle!  Here she is just 1 day old, snuggling with her dad.  She’s an amazing little girl, and she has two wonderful parents!  Her mom is one of my closest friends, and former Camp Canadensis counselor, Ali Margulies Garber.  While Ali was pregnant this summer, she came up for a 4th of July visit at camp, so Milly’s already sorta been to Canadensis, and has even enjoyed some cornman!!

All of them are doing great, and this new family of three have a lot of love coming their way!  One of the ways I show my love is through crafting, check out some of the crafties made specially for Milly!Her dad has a favorite sweatshirt (doesn’t everyone??  I hope your favorite sweatshirt is a Canadensis one!), you can see a little bit of it in the picture above.  It’s from a family owned grocery store in Margate, NJ (in case the name sounds familiar).  Since he often wears the sweatshirt when relaxing, I wanted Milly to have her own version to wear on lazy Sundays…

I picked up a plain red onesie, and made a stencil with adhesive backed paper.  I used non-toxic fabric paint, and voila…check out the finished product!They’ve requested larger sizes for Milly as she grows, and I’m excited to make more for this adorable girl!!

This is a crocheted blanket with her initials – for those of you who took the crochet elective at camp, it started off as a “granny square”, and I just kept making it bigger and bigger!

A flip welcome card…

And even a card for their dog…

I can’t wait until the day Milly and I can break out the coloring books and markers, and start crafting together!

This is a story of second chances…

I was lucky enough to receive a Silhouette electronic cutting printer for my birthday last year, but I set it up one time at camp, it wasn’t working and I just about gave up on it.  UNTIL…Cara got a Cricut, learned how to use these amazing little machines, and gave me a lesson (camp friends are the best!).  Now, I can’t get enough and I’ve been crafting up a storm!

Check out just some of the things I’ve created this week above!

1.  Mini giftboxes with cupcake or bow toppers

2.  Birthday cards and envelopes

3.  Note cards

4.  Paper shapes (I can’t wait to do this elephant bigger and frame it for a kid’s room!)

Wouldn’t it be more exciting to write home this summer on super fun stationery?  Would you enjoy learning how to make your own creations at camp?  Below are some more crafties I did in the past two weeks…(I’ve also made Chanukah cards, baby cards, and more…but I  need to keep it under wraps until I have the chance to give them away!). 1.  A pop up birthday card for Grandma Esther

2.  The envelope for Simone’s 1st Birthday Party

3.  A campy note card

4.  An engagement card for my friend Amy5.  A flip card with a Camp Canadensis heart!

6.  A stereo card for Dave (he was getting a card every day when I first started using the machine, especially since he’s the one who got it for me!)

7.  The thank you card I sent to Muhlenberg College after my hiring trip there

8.  A note to my good friend, Julie, in San Fran

Now you can see how personal you can make each card!  I’m so glad I gave the Silhouette a second chance after letting it collect dust in the box for 6 months.  I’m enjoying learning new tricks, and creating special cards…the best part is giving them away to the people you care about!

We hope to see many of our Westchester and Northern New Jersey families this Sunday at Canteen on the Fly!  We love Long Island…and we will be rescheduling our Canteen o the Fly for later in 2013!!

We had a blast last week in PA seeing campers and introducing new friends, check out some photos below! (I’ve brought back the frames!  Thanks to Cara and Matt for all the photos!)

With 2nd year, Lower Inter Anna!

Friends + Ice Cream…what’s better?  Jenna, Brooke, Kylie, Alexa and AlexaHaving a “cow” of fun with Avery, Haley, David and Group Leader, Pete Tarnoff!

Giving out t-shirts to campers like 4th year, Upper Inter, Tes!There were so many great colored in tees, this one by new Lower Inter, Sierra was amazing!!Some of the New CIT’s of 2013 with their fearless leader!  Mindy, Lauren, E-beth, Alix & Cara

More awesome designed tees, with new Junior camper Samara, and her brother!

Cara and I got to do a fun project today at work!  We used fabric markers to color in a brand new Camp Canadensis t-shirt, and the best part is that we hope you’ll get to do this project too at our Canteen on the Fly events in your area later this month!! All campers and counselors who attend the event get free ice cream and a t-shirt!  We wanted you to have an example of what the shirt can look like colored in…I went for a blue and gold theme, and Cara went for fun neon motif.  Here’s what they looked like halfway through…We’ll keep the final results as a surprise for when we see you at Canteen on the Fly!  I like my finished product, but Cara’s shirt is absolutely amazing (Eric and Matt agree!)…it’ll inspire you to make your own stunning and personalized shirt!  If you want to practice before testing it out on the t-shirt, you can print out this blank design:We hope you have our Canteen On The Fly events marked on your calendar…we’ll send out updated information about it soon!

I got to spend some time up at camp last weekend…and Camp Canadensis is beautiful no matter the season!  I’m sure a lot of you have never seen camp at this time of year, so I snapped a few photos to share with you.

First of all, Barrett Township (a group of 5 villages that includes Canadensis) is transformed during the month of October into “Scarecrowville”.  The town signs are all transformed, and Aunt Terri told me that even the post offices change their stamping machines to say Scarecrowville! 

(Mountainhome is a town right next to Canadensis)

Most of the homes and business in town were decorated – including a personal favorite…Callies Candy Kitchen!!!  Callies makes the most amazing sweet treats – it’s a great place to stop for last minute visiting day candy, or to visit after a tour of camp.  Our campers have the chance to win a trip to Callies during the summer if they keep their bunk the cleanest all summer!

Annie had a great time up at camp – it was a perfect day!  She missed all of you down by the lake…One of my last stops up in the Poconos was at a farm stand to pick out my pumpkin!  My neighborhood has a pumpkin carving contest each year, so I wanted to make sure I found a great canvas to work on.  I will be carving over the weekend (can’t wait for the pumpkin seeds!) and I’ll post photos of the finished product!Finally…last week while the Canadensis Crew was answering phones at the NPR Pledge Drive in Philadelphia, I got to meet Terri Gross from “Fresh Air“!  It’s a radio program that has been on NPR for more than 25 years and is broadcast nationally.  I listen to Terri’s show everyday on my drive home from work, and she’s the most incredible interviewer.  She’s talked to nearly every celebrity, and she explores great topics daily…she’s the radio version of Oprah!  Listening to her daily has really helped me get comfortable with interviewing people…which is something I do quite a lot in the winter office…we do have around 220 staff members to hire each year!  She is a role model of mine, and she was so gracious with her time.

Have you ever met a celebrity that you look up to, or your favorite celeb??  Email us photos so we can share it on Facebook!

I wanted to post some of our winter calendar in the hopes that we’ll be seeing you soon!

Friday, October 19th we will be volunteering answering phones for the NPR Pledge Drive, if you listen to NPR and would like to donate, give us a call between 10am-3PM at 1-888-345-9499 and a Camp Canadensis rep would love to chat with you!

Saturday, October 20th and Sunday, November 11th are chances for new families to book a tour of camp.  You must call ahead to reserve a spot, but if you are considering camp for 2013, come up and take a look!

We are hitting the road and coming to your town for Canteen on the Fly!  This annual program brings together new campers, returning campers, staff, alumni, prospective families…and anyone that wants to enjoy some ice cream and camp fun!  Saturday, November 10th we’ll be in the Philly Suburbs!  Monday, November 12 we’ll be seeing our Long Island campers while school is out for Veterans Day.  Our final leg of the tour will be on Sunday, November 18th in West Chester & Northern New Jersey.

Shortly after ringing in the New Year, we hope that all the 2012 campers and staff will plan to join us for the camp reunion!  Saturday, January 5th from 10:30-12:30 at Funtime America in Cliffwood, NJ.  Lunch is included.

There is even more to look forward to this winter…

-As always, myself, Brian and Eric will be doing home visits all throughout the winter getting to know our new campers.

-We’ll be letting you know about local community service events.

–New Camper bowling in April is a chance to start making camp connections for current K-4th graders.

–Staff hiring trips in Australia, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania, United Kingdom, Eastern Europe and more new destinations for 2013 is how we recruit an outstanding staff, and it leads to fun mini reunions for our staff in those areas.

Hope to see you soon!

I love this quote!  My two favorite programs areas at camp are the Arts (painting, crafting, ceramics, photography, glass fusion, fabric and woodworking) and Outdoors Programs (camping, biking, hiking, hondas, ropes, kayaking…) anything that gets you outdoors exploring the beautiful setting.  This simply ties the two together in a way that Camp Canadensis does oh so well!

I’ve been doing a few different crafty things lately, and since it’s a Monday, I thought it was time to share!  After a fun night of playing Mah Jongg with friends (the best game ever – see my earlier blog about it here) we decided to dig out the nail polish, but use it in a crafty way!  I had learned this awesome marbled nail technique from a great staff member, Grace O’Neill this summer.  She was teaching our Senior Campers how to do it during an iCan Night, which is a chance for them to pick what they want to learn during an Evening Activity a few times each summer.  Click here for a tutorial if you want to try it at home with parental permission!

Here are our results…each nail comes out so unique, my favorite is the ring finger!

And since it’s getting colder, I’ve also been spending more time crocheting – one of my favorite fall crafts because as you are working on a blanket, it’s also keeping you warm!  We made some cute crochet projects at camp this summer, including these adorable crochet monsters…each had their own personality!  If you want to learn crochet at camp next summer, make sure you sign up for the needle arts elective!

I like working on BIG projects – many of which I’ve posted on the blog at times…like here and here.  This past weekend I was digging through my crochet bin and found this chevron blanket that I haven’t worked on in years!!  I probably started this blanket 7 years ago when I lived in New Orleans, so it’s about the same age as our Bunk 2 campers!! It’s huge, and since chevron print is so popular right now, I thought it was a good time to get back to work on it.It’s mostly blues and grays, but as I continue to work on it, my plan is to just grab whatever color skein (aka ball of yarn) I have on hand so it will use up whatever I’ve had laying around, and hopefully the random pattern looks good at the end!  It’s grown a lot this week because we spent a lot of time in the car this weekend visiting family and friends in NY.  (There is no better way to spend time on a long drive!)  As it gets longer, I’ll post more photos.  It’s super cozy though…take Annie’s word for it!